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San Francisco on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against some of the nation’s biggest food and beverage manufacturers, accusing them of creating a public nuisance through deceptive marketing of ultra-processed foods (Reuters, subscription).

What’s going on: “City Attorney David Chiu filed the lawsuit in San Francisco Superior Court, alleging the companies employed tactics similar to those used by the tobacco industry to design and market products intended to addict consumers.”

• Chiu named Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Kraft Heinz, Mondelez and six other firms in the suit, averring all broke “California laws on public nuisance and deceptive marketing.”
• The suit says that cancer, obesity and diabetes rates have risen in tandem with the proliferation of “ultra-processed” snack foods.
• The city is asking for “restitution and civil penalties to offset” health-care costs, as well as a court order stopping the companies from using “deceptive marketing” and mandating that they change their advertising practices.

However: “The definition of ultra-processed foods remains under debate,” according to the article, and efforts underway by the Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration to define the term could backfire, as the NAM said in October.

• The push could shift nutrition programs and policies away from food composition and toward subjective opinions about processing methods.

The NAM says: “Allegations of public nuisance against food and beverage manufacturers that fully comply with FDA safety and nutrition standards are an abuse of the legal system,” said NAM Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary Linda Kelly.

• “Frivolous and agenda-driven lawsuits do not improve public health or safety. Instead, they create confusion for consumers and undermine the regulatory certainty manufacturers need to provide safe and nutritious foods that are affordable and accessible for American families.”

NAM in the news: Fox Business covered the NAM’s comments.